Clothes-line support.



W. 1. WHITE. CLOTHES LINE SUFPORT. APPLICATION min MAR. 22. 1917.

1,251,149. Patented Dec. 25,1912

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. I. WHITE.

CLOTHES LINE SUPPORT.

APPLQCATION FILED MR. 22. 1911.

1,251,149, Patented D60. 25,1917.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- m I C 54 g /32 .%q a a WILLIAM. J. WHITE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CLOTHES-LINE SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 25, 1917.

Application filed March 22, 1917. Serial No. 156,526.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Line Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improved clothes line support. One object of my invention is to provide a support of the above described type which can be readily installed in the yard of a dwelling house or other building, and which will require or take up but little ground space.

Another object is to so construct my invention that the clothes supported thereon can be quickly' and easily elevated to such an altitude that they will be above the heads of persons who walk under them.

A further object is to so construct my invention that it will support the ends of a number of strands of clothes line rope and will also include means for-further supporting said strands within their lengths, thus preventing sagging of the clothes lines and peranitting exceptionally long strands to be use Another object is to so make my invention that it will be of simple construction, durable and can be manufactured at a small cost.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, I

attain in the following manner, reference.

being had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Y

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section taken on the line H of Fig. 2.

5 is a fragmentary plan view showing certain of the actuating ropes attached to a connecting link which I employ. I

Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 are two upright supports in the form of posts which have their lower ends buried in the ground and are spaced apart as illustrated in Fig. 1. These posts are connected at their tops by a longitudinally extending beam 3,

the latter having secured to it a transverse beam 4 (see Figs. 1 and 2).

Each of the posts 1 and 2 has a casing 5 ad acent its bottom. These casings extend partway up the posts and are spaced from the 1nner surfaces thereof, thus providing inclosed slideways 6 for the lower ends of two ralsing bars 7 and 8. Each of said bars have anti-friction rollers 9 journaled thereon and designed to roll between the inner surf-aces 10 of the casing 5 and the inner surfaces 11 of the posts 1 and 2 (see Figs. 1, 3, and 4). Each of the raising bars 7 and 8, adjacent its upper end, has a yoke or band 12 secured to 1t and extending around the adjacent post. Furthermore, each of the yokes 12 forms a houslng and bearing for an anti-friction roller 13, said latter rollers being designed to roll upon the outer surfaces 14 of the posts 1 and 2.

A Windlass 15 is secured to the casing 5 of the post 2 and includes a supporting frame 16 which forms a bearing for a windng drum 17, the latter having an extended ournal 18 to which is secured a ratchet wheel 19 and a handle 20 by which the drum 17 can be rotated.

A locking pawl 21 is pivotally supported on the frame 16 and has a handle 22 by which the pawl may be manually disengaged from the ratchet. A spring 23 normally presses upon the pawl and keeps the pawl 1n mesh with the ratchet for reasons hereinafter described.

A rope 24 has one of its ends secured to the Winding drum 17 and passes upwardly between two guide rollers 25 and 26 which are journaled in an auxiliary frame 27. These rollers 25 and 26 are spaced apart and arranged above the Winding drum 17. The rope 24 asses upwardly from the winding drum 1 and between the rollers 25 and 26.

The axes of the rollers 25 and 26 extend substantially at right angles to the axis of the drum 17, and the arrangement is such that a vertical plane extending between th rollers 25 and 26 intersects the axis ofthe drum 17 between the ends of said drum, so that the rollers 25 and 26 thus provide a guide for the rope 24: di rectly above the drum 17.

The rope 24 at its upper end, is secured the oppositely disposed hooks on the arms 33, the strands of rope 35 thus extending longitudinally between the posts 1 and 2 are supported at their ends by the hooks 34.

The rope 31 passes upwardly and around a pulley 37 which is suspended from the longitudinally extending beam 3. This rope 31, after passing around said pulley 37, ex-

tends downwardly and is attached'to the upper end of the raising bar 8. The rope 32 passes around a pulley 39 mounted on the post 2 and is then connected to an angular portion 40 of a triangular coupling link 41 of the same construction as the coupling link 28. l

Th coupling link 41 (see Figs. 1 and 5) has another rope 42 connected thereto and this latter rope extends between the posts 1 and 2 and passes over a pulley 43 which is mounted adjacent the top of the post 1. This rope 42 then passes downwardly and is connected to the upper end of th raising bar 7.. Two other ropes 44 and 45 are connected to the coupling link 41 at its twoother angular portions 46 and 47 respectively. These ropes 44 and 45 extendin a divergent manner from the coupling link 41, and respectively'pass around two pulleys 48 and 49 which are suspended from opposite ends of the transverse beam 4, the connecting means for said latter pulleys be ng in the form of two eyelets 50 and 51 which are secured to said beam 4 and engage the eyes 52 and 53 on said pulleys 48 and 49. The ropes 44 and 45 after passing around the pulleys 48 and 49, extend downwardly and are attached to opposite ends of a transversely extending raising beam 54, the latter being mounted below the strands 35 of the clothes line rope as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

The operation of my invention is as follows I When it is desired to attach clothes to the strands of rope 35, the pawl 21 is manually actuated to free it from the ratchet wheel 19, the handle 20 is then turned to permit the rope 24 to unwind from the winding drum 17, and the raising bars 7 and 8, rope 35, yokes l3, and arms 33 will lower by gravity into a position to bring the strands 35 of the clothes lin rope to a level so that the clothes may be convenmemes iently attached thereto. The drum 17 is then turned by the handle 20 and as the rope 24 is wound thereon, it will eifect the pulling of the ropes 31, 32, 42, 44, and 45 to raise the raising bars 7 and 8, and consequently the strands 35 having the clothes secured thereto, and will simultaneously raise the beam 54 into engagement with the under portions of the strands 35 and thereby prevent the sagging of the strands 35 due to the weight of the clothes which are secured thereto.

In other words, the beam 54 acts as a prop which is raised simultaneously with the strands 35 and serves to keep the latter taut. The clothes will be held in this elevated position due to the engagement of the pawl 21 with the ratchet wheel19.

The casings 5, constructed in the manner above described, provide guide-ways and housings for the lower ends of the raising bars 7 and 8, and by having the antisfriction rollers 9 and 13 mounted to roll in the manner above described, friction is reduced to a minimum and it requires but comparatively little power to raise the clothes on the rope strands 35.

My invention is particularly convenient for use in the yards of dwelling houses as above noted, since the posts 1 and 2 may be placed adjacent opposite portions of the fence of the yard and require but little space. Furthermore, any of the rope strands 35 may be removed or replaced merely by disengaging their ends from the hooks 34. By providing the coupling links as above described, all of the parts are movable in unison and the Weight of the several parts is kept balanced.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it will be understood that the various parts of my invention may be changed Without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for supporting clothes lines, comprising a supporting structure having supporting uprights spaced apart, two members spaced apart, a strand of clothes linehaving its opposite ends respectively connected to said members, means on said supporting structure operative to raise said members, and a prop for engagement with said strand of clothes line, said prop being movable into engagement with said strand by said latter means, substantially as described.

2. A device for supporting clothes lines, comprising a supporting structure having supporting uprights spaced apart, two members spaced apart, a strand of clothes line having its opposite ends respectively connected to said members, raising bars attached to said members and supporting anti-friction rollers for engaging opposite faces of said uprights, ropes connecting said raising bars, means for pulling said ropes to raise said members, means for securing said latter means to hold said members in their raised position, and a prop for engagement with said strand at a position within its length, said prop being raised by said first means to prevent sagging of said strand, substantially as described.- 7

3. A device for supporting clothes lines comprising a structure having supporting 7 uprights spaced apart, two members spaced apart, a plurality of strands of clothes line having their opposite ends respectively connected to said members, a transverse sup-- porting beam above said strands, rope guiding means on said transverse beam, a transverse prop under said strands, and ropes connected to said prop and passing over said guiding means, substantially as described.

4. A device for supporting clothes lines, comprising a supporting structure having supporting uprights spaced apart, a longitudinally extending beam connecting said uprights, a transversely extending beam supported by said longitudinal beam, pulleys supported by said transverse beam, members spaced apart, a plurality of strands of clothes line having their opposite ends secured to said latter members, raising bars forming a support for said members and movably connected to said uprights, ropes connecting said raising bars, a transversely extending beam located below said strands, ropes passing over said pulleys and connecting said latter beam, and means for pulling said ropes whereby-the strands are elevated and the latter mentioned beam is brought into engagement with the lower portions of said strands, substantially as: described.

5. A device for supporting clothes lines,

comprising a supporting structure having supporting uprights spaced apart, a longitudinally extending beam connecting said uprights, a transversely extending beam supported by said longitudinal beam, pulleys supported by said transverse beam, members spaced apart, a plurality of strands of clothes line having their opposite ends secured to said latter members, raising bars forming a support for said members and movably connected to said uprights, ropes connecting said raising bars, a transversely extending beam located below said strands, ropes passing over said pulleys and COI1I18Ctin' S2ild latter beam, means for pulling said ropes whereby the strands are elevated and the ,latter mentioned beam is brought into engagement with the lower portions of said strands, and links for coupling the ropes together whereby an even pull is imparted to the raising bars and to the latter mentioned beam, substantially as described.

6. A device for supporting clothes lines, comprising a supporting structure having supporting uprights spaced apart, two members spaced apart, a clothes line having its opposite ends respectively connected to said members, raising bars attached to said members and supporting anti-friction rollers for engaging opposite faces of said uprights, casings on said uprights forming guideways spaced therefrom and into which the lower ends of said raising bars extend, ropes con necting said raising bars, means for pulling said ropes to raise said members, and means for holding said bars and members in their raised position, substantially as described.

7. A device for supporting clothes lines, comprising a supporting structure having uprights spaced apart, a supporting beam extending between said uprights, members rollers mounted above and having their axes extending transversely to the axis of. said drum, a rope having one end attached to said drum and extending between said two rollers, two pulleys on said supporting structure arranged one above each of said members, a rope leading from said winding drum rope, around one of said latter pulleys and being operative to raise one of said members, another pulley on said supporting structure, a rope connecting said winding drum rope, passing around said latter pulley and connecting said first two ropes, and another rope passing over the other of said second-mentioned pulleys and operative to raise the other of said members, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. WHITE. Witnesses:

, SAMANA WHITE,

CHAS. E. Po'r'rs. 

